This background description is provided for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, material described in this section is neither expressly nor impliedly admitted to be prior art to the present disclosure or the appended claims.
Sound speakers typically include an electromagnet and a paper or plastic cone whereby live or recorded audio, such as from optical disks, magnetic media, and radio and online feeds are converted from various formats into sound waves for people to hear. To better enable people to enjoy audio wherever they go, small speakers have been produced, such as over-ear headphones and in-ear ear-buds. These small speakers, however, plug or occlude people's ears, which can be uncomfortable and, in some cases, dangerous as they obscure ambient sounds that people may need to hear.
To address this problem, some current techniques have provided piezoelectric transducers that convert audio recordings and feeds into vibrations. These piezoelectric transducers, rather than excite a paper or plastic cone, directly contact a person's pinna of their outer ear. While these techniques often forgo plugging or occluding people's ears, they suffer from various signification drawbacks.